The present invention relates generally to liquid solutions containing active ingredients for various uses. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel resolvation system for liquid solutions containing active ingredients that tend to kill odor-causing bacteria.
Active ingredients are manufactured and sold in solid or liquid form as intermediate products that are dissolved into corresponding solvents ultimately for application to a desired treatment area. Such active ingredients are available for a wide variety of applications including use as pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, perfumes, deodorants, and food additives.
A procedure is known for dissolving an active ingredient into a liquid solvent to change the liquid chemically for a desired purpose. For example, many conventional pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers are made with an active ingredient, in a solid or liquid state, that is subsequently dissolved into a suitable liquid solvent by a user ultimately to apply the mixture to a desired location, e.g. certain regions of a plant or lawn.
That same procedure is used in food chemistry to incorporate food additives, such as vanilla or other nut/bean extracts, into various recipes. It is also used for various medical applications as well as in the fragrance and personal-care-products industry.
There are certain drawbacks with conventional methods of making the intermediate active ingredient available to the user ultimately for dissolution into an appropriate solvent. First, many active ingredients are sold in bulk quantities that require undesired time and effort in measuring appropriate amounts per use, and in mixing such amounts into an appropriate solvent. Second, certain active ingredients are relatively toxic, or at least unappealing to touch/smell, so that the measure/mix activity carries a safety risk or causes discomfort for the user.
Additional drawbacks include the relatively limited use, with respect to time or amount, of an active-ingredient-containing solution after the arduous mixing/measuring required by most of such conventional methods. Time limitations are present because certain active-ingredient-containing solutions have a fixed-use life, e.g. certain solution use lives can be only a matter of minutes or hours. Amount limitations are present for non-bulk quantity usage of such products. That is, where a small container is provided in a prepackaged, premixed form, its usefulness is obviously limited by the quantity in the package.
In the deodorant industry, it is known to make solid or liquid deodorant formulations with the active ingredient already dissolved in the formulation. Such formulations are then suitably packaged for use by a consumer. These formulations have the limitation of single-package use, i.e. once a package/container of deodorant is used up, the active ingredient is completely gone, as is the carrier/solvent.
With respect to aerosol dispensers for deodorants, there has been a certain suggestion to make them reusable by allowing for successive addition of a solvent and a solid tablet into a suitable opaque aerosol container. The tablet is formulated to produce (1) gas necessary for dispensing the product and (2) an active ingredient for making the product capable of deodorizing. Such apparatus has the drawback of requiring similar, albeit simplified, measuring/mixing activity when reusing the aerosol container. Another drawback is that the user cannot visibly monitor when the deodorant solution is in need of replenishment. For environmental reasons, aerosol dispensing apparatus is also undesirable generally.
None of the above conventional methods and/or products is designed for multiple usage of an active-ingredient-containing package by simply adding an appropriate solvent.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a system for using an active-ingredient-containing solution which overcomes the drawbacks of prior-art proposals.
Another object is to provide such a system that accommodates use/reuse by simply successive addition of a suitable solvent.
Yet another object is to provide such a system that allows a user visibly to monitor whether the system should be refilled with more solvent.
Another important object of the invention is to provide such a system for a deodorant product where the active ingredient is itself visible and is provided in a form that is attractive to consumers.
It is also an object of the invention to provide such a system that can be cost-effectively manufactured.
In brief summary, one aspect of the invention includes a resolvation system for an active-ingredient-containing liquid solution. The invention includes an amount of solid having an active ingredient and container structure for holding both the solid and a first volume of liquid solvent. The solvent is capable of solvating a first portion of the solid to release a first charge of the active ingredient into the first volume of solvent to make a first active-ingredient-containing solution. Also included is liquid-emission structure associated with the container structure and including actuator substructure actuable by such user to emit a desired amount of the solution to a desired target area.
The invention requires that the amount of solid exceeds that which can be dissolved into the first volume of solvent, and that the container structure includes a removable closure device. The idea is to accommodate reopening of the container structure for addition of a second volume of liquid solvent into the container structure after the user has emitted at least some of the first active-ingredient-containing solution. The addition of the second volume of solvent causes release of a second charge of the active ingredient into the solvent to make a second active-ingredient-containing solution which the user can emit, via the liquid-emission structure, in desired amounts to desired target areas. The system of the invention is preferably designed so that the amount of solid exceeds that which can be dissolved into the first and second volumes of solvent, thereby to accommodate successive addition of more volumes of solvent into the container structure after the user has emitted at least some of the active-ingredient-containing solutions present in the container structure.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a deodorant resolvator for a liquid solution containing an active ingredient that tends to kill odor-causing-bacteria. The resolvator preferably includes container structure that is constructed from visible-light-transmissive material, and an amount of solid having an active ingredient with the solid being configured in plural crystal forms.
Yet another aspect of the invention is to provide a method of successively solvating a solid containing an active ingredient. The method of the invention includes the steps of selecting an amount of solid having an active ingredient, and placing the amount of solid in container structure. Other steps include (1) adding a first volume of liquid solvent capable of solvating a first portion of the solid to release a first charge of the active ingredient into the first volume of solvent to make a first active-ingredient-containing solution, and (2) emitting a desired amount of the first solution to a desired target area. Another step involves replacing the emitted solution by adding a second volume of liquid solvent to the container structure after performing the emitting step, with the addition of the second volume of solvent causing release of a second charge of the active ingredient into the solvent to make a second active-ingredient-containing solution. The invention also requires the step of re-emitting a desired amount of the second solution to a desired target area.
The method of the invention preferably also includes the step of repeating the replacing and re-emitting steps for additional volumes of solvent ultimately to make additional active-ingredient-containing solutions for application to desired target areas.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the accompanying drawings and the following description of the preferred embodiment.